Machine for washing table-cutlery and other articles



(No Model.)

A. E. WETMORE.

MACHINE FOR WASHING TABLE GUTLERY AND OTHER ARTICLES. No. 298,530. Patented May 13, 1884.

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ANDREWV E. XVETMORE, OF TURNERS FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FORVi/ASHING TABLE CUTLERYAND GTHERARTlCLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 298,530, dated May 13, 1884-.

Application filed May 3, 1883. (x0 model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ANDREW E. Wnrironn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Turner s Falls, in the county of Franklin and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Machine for ashing Knives, Forks, Spoons, and other Articles for Table Use, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in machines for washing cutlery, spoons, and other table-ware.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention and form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the apparatus with the front screen partly removed. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the machine with the lower vertical wall removed. Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section 011 line a: as, Fig. 1, looking to the left.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures.

A is the box containing various parts of the machine.

B is the lower brush, andO the upper brush, each being driven bya pulley on opposite ends of the arbors or shafts on which the brushes are placed. The arbors are carried in movable blocks in the ends of the machine. Setscrews are provided to adjust the blocks and brushes carried thereby. The adjusting setscrews which regulate the blocks carrying the upper brush, 0, are marked ml or, and the corresponding lower set'screws are marked m a. The latter, m and n, adjust the lower brush, B. By means of these adjusting set-screws the brushes can be set at any distance apart on a horizontal or inclined line, or one horizontal and the other inclined, or both inclined,but at different angles, so as to vary the size and shape of the space between them as maybe desired.

E is a brush having an oblique face, bracketed out from the frame of the machine, so as to be adjustable immediately over the conical brush D, which is placed upon the end of the arbor of the brush 0. These brushes E and D are intended for washing conical or cylindrical articles, such as napkin-rings, 850. When a plain cylindrical article is placed upon the brush D, the yielding of the bristles will allow it to be pressed up until the entire interior is brushed. When the interior is brushed or cleaned,the ring or cylindrical article may be forced still further upon the brush D, which will then serve to hold the article by tightening upon the interior thereof, and rotate it under the brush E to clean the exterior.

F is a soap-box with a perforated bottom, secured by screws lit to the blocks T T, in which is held the upper brush-gudgeons. The

upper brush, 0, receives the soap from this box, and is intended to come very close to it or to touch it. A follower, F, is suspended from the top of the machine by a screw, f which passes through a portion of the stationary frame-work and affords a means for adj usting the follower with relation to the soapbox. As shown in Fig. 1, the follower rests upon the soap in the box and keeps it in place.

G is a pipe conveying hot water from any convenient supply, having at its lower enda T or cross'pipe extending the whole length of the brush es, and perforated with small holes to let a spray of warm water on the upperbrush, which in its revolution will touch the bottom of the soap-box F, making the necessary suds for cleaningthe articles.

H is a guide in the rear of the brushes, adj usted to control the extent to which the knives and forks may be thrust in between said brushes.

I (shown in dotted lines, Fig. 3) is a guide to be used in washing spoons, one -half of which is made higher than the other for this purpose. The bowl of the spoon,being placed between the brushes, first will come against the high portion of the guide, owing to the curve of the spoon-handle. WVhen spoons are washed, it is found that they are cleaned with much less danger of chafing or scratching if inserted in the washer between the brushes edgewise. To do this the upper brush, 0, is raised at one end by the screw m, the lower brush, B, being lowered at the same end by the set-screw m, leaving the space between them of a V shape, and the brushes are thus set far enough apart to receive the bowls of the spoons edgewise at one end and the handles at the other or narrower end. \Vhen passed through, the bowls of the spoons meet the upper half of the guide I and the handles the lower half.

lhe box containing the various parts of the apparatus is made sloping at the back and provided with a hinged door, while the front of said box is provided with a sliding door, K.

The pulleys driving the revolving brushes may, if desired, be cone-pulleys to admit of varying the speed. V

It is intended that the guide 1, except when spoons or similar articles are being cleaned, is to be dispensed with, and for this reason the said guide has been shown in the drawings in dotted lines, in order that other andnioreimpo'rtant parts may. not be obscured by it.

Vhat I claim is 1. In an apparatus for washing cutlery and analogous articles, the combination of the brushes B 0, having adjustable bearings in which they revolve, and provided with setscrews to adj ust the bearings,with a perforated soap-supplying box located over the upper brush, as set forth.

2. The combination, with the revolving brushes B and G and soap-box F, havinga perforated bottom, of the adjustable follower F, having sorewf for adjusting it over the soap-box, as set forth.

3. A machine for washing tableware, eonsisting of the box A, rotary brushes 0 B, means for vertically adjusting them, a perforated watendischarge pipe, G, a perforated soapbox, F, and the devices for washing oylindrical articles, composed of the brushes 1) and E, all constructed and arranged substantially as set forth.

ANDIiEl V E. XVETMORE.

Witnesses:

J AMES S. GRINNELL, HENRY K. SIMoNs. 

